CHILD protection workers in York welcomed colleagues from Belgium at a special policy-exchange meeting - the first of its kind in the city.

Techniques currently used in both countries to identify "at-risk" families were discussed by the health and social care workers, along with ideas on how services could be developed.

Organiser Sue Roughton came up with the idea after attending a conference near Brussels last year.

She said it was about time that different countries in Europe worked more closely together and learned from each other's experiences.

She said: "It is really useful for us to see how people who work in child protection operate in other parts of Europe and for them to see how we do things here.

"This dialogue means we can swap expertise and advice, which ultimately enhances services here in the Selby and York area."

Duncan Clark, head of children and family services at the Selby and York Primary Care Trust, said both countries discussed the prevention and detection of physical and emotional abuse.

He said: "We are starting to see the differences across Europe. In Belgium they have a scoring system where they look at the mother's expectations of the child, whether she talks about herself rather than her child, mental health issues, drug dependency.

"Around 90 per cent of children who have been abused would have been identified using that process.

"We have a system where health visitors go to see the parents for a year and will refer on if they think there is a problem. It's a good system and we have a sound foundation, but there are things we can learn."

The meeting at St William's College formed part of a week of activities for the Belgian group, which was touring various areas of the country.

Updated: 10:06 Saturday, June 04, 2005